IG Faults NCUA for Inconsistent SIF Loss Estimates

The OIG report cited inconsistencies between loss estimates reported by regional offices and the NCUA's AMAC division during the first seven months of 2012.

A Nov. 1 Inspector General report said NCUA divisions reported different estimated share insurance fund loss amounts for all six purchase and assumption agreements completed during a 2012 review period.

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“We determined NCUA's regional offices and Asset Management and Assistance Center documented different estimated SIF loss amounts at different times that were ultimately used by (Examination and Insurance) to update the Reserve Needs Report,” the report said.

The OIG's review included the period from Jan. 1, 2012 through July 31, 2012, during which time the NCUA supervised the closure of 12 credit unions that caused losses to the SIF.

For this period, loss to the SIF from the failure of the $318 million Telesis Community Credit Union in Chatsworth, Calif., was estimated to be $254.6 million. However, the actual amount totaled just $72.3 million, the report found.

The $51.8 million Eastern New York Federal Credit Union in Napanoch, N.Y., was projected to cause a $2.6 million loss but the actual amount was higher, at $3.6 million.

The NCUA also supervised the closure of 17 credit unions that caused a loss to the SIF in 2011. The OIG review showed the NCUA projected a $431,000 loss from the failed $52 million BCT Federal Credit Union in Montrose, Pa.; however, the actual amount totaled $6.1 million.

The OIG report suggested the NCUA “formalize and update existing internal procedures used for maintaining the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund's reserves to ensure procedures reflect current practices for recording estimated…loss amounts, the yearly number and dates of credit union failures; and the systems used to record these events.”

The review also found that the credit union failure dates reported to the OIG by each of the NCUA offices “varied significantly.”

To prevent this issue from occurring again, OIG recommended the NCUA “develop an agency-wide definition for the term ‘failure date’ for both federally and state-chartered credit union involuntary liquidations, purchase and assumptions, and assisted mergers.”

This action would “ensure agency-wide consistency when reporting on when a credit union is actually considered to have failed,” the report said.